Trialogus : a conference betwixt Mr. Con, Mr. Pro and Mr. Indifferent concerning the Union ..

speciAL
coLLecxrlONS

t)OUQLAS
LibRARy

queeN's UNiveRsiiy

AT kiNQSXION

kiNQSTON ONTARiO CANADA

1 rialogus.

CONFERENCE

BETWIXT

Mr. CON, Mr. PRO,

AND

Mr. INDIFFERENT,

Concerning the

I o N-

'To ho Coyilhnied JVeeUy.

Prinkcl iiUfeiie Year 1 706.

/TO,

fc"

*f^\r

( I )

Trialogus.

A Conference tei'wtpd:' MryCon^' Mr, Pro, am M\
Indifferent.

/»^//. /"^E N T L E M E N, I am glad to find you
1 -v two, apart from the Croud ; and tho* I
^^-*- perceive you warm in your Difcourfe,
what ever be the Subjed ; yet I hope you Will take a little
Leafure, to tell me, What the Matter can be, which hath
yok'd all the People of this Place in Battels of Difpute, as if
they were Cocks in February : And the Simile is the nearer,
that By ftanders cannot well difcern the Caufe of the Quarrel,
nor the Prize for the Vidor ; Yea, even the Females, (tho' in
a Gentiler Tone / are Crowing alfc. I wifti it prove not
fome new and Epidemick Phrenezie ; and if it b^, I wifli
we may fall on fome fit Charm, to eafethe Paroxyfm.- For
there may be a goodCharm, as well as a perniciousPreaching ;
and the one may cure the other. Pray, my good Friends,
inform me as Ihortly as you pleafe ; I could learn nothing a-
mongft the Multitude ; for all were Queftioning, all were An-
fwering; everyone feem'd full of his own Opinion ; and yet
for all that, it feem'd, the moft Part of them did rather
want Information to themfclves, than a Fitnefs to afford it

A 2 to

■*tt

'-# ( 4 )

tootners; I wifh'd heartily for an Authorlz'd Macer, to call
Silefjce. But I know your compos'd Temper, and I hope this
feeming Univerfal Diftemper hath not alter'd you fo far, but
that you will in Calmnefs, tell what's the Caufe of all this
Clutter. And Mr. C. becaufe you have the Priority of the
Alphabet, pray, Tell the Subjed of this Catholick Noife.

Corj. The VNION of B R IT JIN, forfooth, Sir.

I^d. ThQUniono^ Br ham! I thought Union would be a
Caufe of Concord, not of Difcord.

^ Co». I, but there is, Vnion2kn^Vmon', no Man in hisWits
is. againft a Friendly Federal Union, fuch as many Neigh-
bouring Nations have, and all Chriftians fhould defire : But
there is a ftrange Motion, not only made, but carried on to a
Treaty, by vertue of an A£l of our Parliament, for an Incor-
porating Union with England, Ha, ha, he 1
/jJnd^, How, is fuch an Union a thing that moves your
Con-fhip^s Laughter ?

Con, Yea, both Laughter and Weeping, Anger and Scorn.

JW. Have you good Reafons for thefe Emotions ? If you
have, pray, inform your Friend.

Con. I havefo many, that I know not well at which to be.
gin : But its little matter of Order, in managing fo good and
great a Subjeft ; I fhall take the firft that comes in my
Head, as the great Homer did begin his Iliads : And
Brfi, Its impoffible.

• r Ind, One for all : But Sir, is the ImpofTibility, in Cannot^ or
in Will not.

Con. Good Faith, in both. But I begin with the Cannot ;
tho' I refolve to end in the other. It is impoflible for two
Sovereign Supreme Powers to join in One, for that would de-
ftroy Both, at leaflOne of them, and efpecially the Lefler.

Ind. Its

( 5 ; W

' Ud. Its apparent, that there is an Alteration in the two
Units, when the Tw^o becomes One ; but that Union per-
haps doth not annihilate, elfe what had become of all thefe
fine Kingdoms, and now but Parts of one Kingdom, in the
great Continents of 6^4/>, oUjaul, and ofOld- iim<«//z ? For
ought we know, the Land, the People, their Power, Honour,
Riches, &c. are at leaftas great, as when they were in feparate
Kingdoms.

Coyj, I, but every one of them, is not a feparate Kingdom ;
there is not One in Each, who wears a Crown, is called hisMa-
jefty : And Each hath not a Parliament, and a Supreme Le«
giflative within it felf, and hath not a feveral Anibaflador
With his many Kingly Neighbours ; Nor have they a fepa-p.
rate Army, Guards, and other Perquifites of Royalty. vr

Ind. But are the Inhabitants, Richer, Safer, more Peace-
able, and a Part of a Nobler Politick Body, than they were
whilft divided ? Are they more able to refift: Invaders and
Enemies now, than then ?

Con, What's all thefe Trifles to the Glory of being a King-
dom per fe ? And being what our PredeceiTors were ? Arid
Po lofe the Glorious Name of a KJngdom^ who can i?e/ir that ?

Ind. Pray, Sir, what were the Things that pleas'd you, in
being a Kingdom? Was it your being a part of a Bo'dy,
which had a King ? 'You have that in the Union. Was ic
.in being a Part of a Rich and great Body Politick ? You are
more fo in the united Kingdom f Was it in being fafe from
Invaders and Enemies ? You are more fo by the Union. V/as
it, that you fliould be more refpeded and noticed as a Nation
by Neighbour Kings and Potentates? You will be more fo
when you are a Part of a Great Kingdom, than you are of a
little One. This I fpeak, to every Individual.

Con, Sir

Cot;, Sir you anfwer me Captioufly, I am fpealdng of Us,
as We are a diftin£lKingdora, in the Nature and Notion of a
Kingdom /'^ry^ : And you confider Us only, as to our Lives,
Honours, and Eftates, as thefe are Concerns of all the Parti-
culars. "What care We for thefe, in Comparifon of our Uni-
verfai Concern, as We are a Nation and Ancient Kingdom ?

Ir^d. I confefs Sir, I was not fo Philofophical as to imagine,
that the Subject of the Debate was on the Philofophical Second
Notion of Things, which I learn'd long fince in the School ;
did^confift inAbllradAdls of the thinkingMind;But I did think
of the Notion of Things, as they are really in themfelves, and .
as they exifl: a parte Rei ( as Philofophers do exprefs it : ) Sir, <
I allow you full Scouth in your Second Notions, and refer
you and them to the Schools ; But I hope, the Parliament
and Nation will confider the Amotions of Things, as they are
really, and as they are the Riches, Honour and Safety of all,
and every Individual : And then to examine the different
State of thefe Nations, whilft they were divided in Spai»,
France, and Britain^ from what they are now iq their United

States. ^'..v^ ^ ■

Con, lam fure there are Second, as well as Firft Notions of
Things ; and both deferve Confideration. But however,
even in thefe Unions you fpeak of, did. not Arra^on keep a
diftini^: Supremacy, did not Navarr^Si^ Britainy alfo ? for
a whiledid not /'f^^/6'j,./C^/?^) and the Dutchy oi Lmc4-3hire^"
endeavour fuch a thing ? and are we more inconfiderable
than thefe, or greater Fools r*

Ind: I told you that there are Firfb and Second Amotions,
and both deferve Confideration : The Second Actions, by
Scholars in the Schools ; the Firfir, by StatesMen in the Parlia-
ment, and to thefe I leave them refpeftively •• But as to your
Examples^- Arragon and JSJavarr did fo, to their coniiant

Trouble.

( 7 ) mm

Trouble, great Lofs, and frequent danger of Ruine, ^Bie.
ver to the leaft Advantage : The hke did befall NAvar^^ri^
taigny was fhort while fo iooYi^h-Wales and fome Places inEng.
Und,^ (ince they were United in one, as they had one King ;
fo they never had feveral Parliaments: And even as to the
Sovereign Judicatories, kept up amongft them, as the Pre-
iidial Court of W^4/^y, the Chamber of the Dutchy, and the
Precedency of the A^orth at T(9r^, How oft hath the People
of thefe Provinces endeavoured to call: them off, and the far
greater Part do ftill keep them with Groans?

But I am inform'd, that by the Treaty of our Union, both
our Municipal Laws and Judicatures arereferv'd in the fame
manner as now they Hand.

Con^ Yea,they arereferv'd, but pray how? Even forfooth,
fo long as the Parliament diGrent Britain pleafes ; a pretty Se-
curity indeed : In which Parliament, they will have ( for
ought I know ) a Hundred to One, with us.

Ind. Good Mr. C.I fee that, impedit ira mimum : Let me
ask you now, Are ourMunicipalLaws/fo good that they cannot
be alter'd to the better ? And is it impoffible that there fhou!d
be new Emergents, which require iVew Laws ? Are our
Judicatures, of fo excellent Conftitutions, as that the better-
ing of them are above our Wiflij ? If they be, I prefume that
England^ will not upon any account, be defirous of the Ho-
nour, or Trouble, to amend our Laws or Judicatures ; for
they cannot have Intereft to defire,but rather to evite it ; A^o,
nor to rcferve it to the Parliament of BritAtn : and that, if we'
pleas'd our Laws fhould be the Laws of the M^^^j and Per-
fians^ and unalterable : But, if need require, they fhould ;
what Fear from a Parliament, whereof none can have Intereft
to be Partial in thefe Concerns, but the Scots Members in it ?
And good A'eighbours are certainly the beft Advifers, and

,Coun.

JB ^ ^ ^

'T^Kllours, ifl all luch Matters; So thought the Grecia^s^
wfllK^hey Icarn'd their LelTons from the Phenicians ; fo did
■the Roma/is, when they received the Ten Tables from the
GreciAyjs : So Mr. C. I beg you, quite Trifling in fuch a. feri-
ous Matter; and if you have any thing to fay to better Pur-
pofe, pray tell it to your Friend.

Co/j: I beg you Pardon, I am to meet with fome Friends
at ^, B, C. where we are to Speak ofthefe Matters; and to
Confukhow to prevent this horrid Mifchief.^ On Tuefday I
will be at this Place.

Ind. Brutm^ I will meet you there*.

CYioK; c^:v:;iTLiy^l'^Ilfr'5''f^ii''1f'e. ' ~ i »; ;j;iij;>u j